Long-term results of vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy with the low-resistance, indwelling Provox^TMVoice prosthesis system

TLDR

The study reports long‑term outcomes of the low‑resistance indwelling Provox voice prosthesis in 132 patients after total laryngectomy. Provox is a low‑resistance indwelling prosthesis developed at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. In long‑term follow‑up, the prosthesis had a mean life of 235 days, 92 % of patients achieved good‑to‑fair vocal rehabilitation, device life correlated with tumour site, radiotherapy had a borderline negative effect, and longer follow‑up increased device life.

Abstract

A low-resistance indwelling prosthesis for vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy, Provox was developed in the Netherlands Cancer Institute 5 years ago. The long-term results in 132 patients using this prosthesis are now reported. The mean and median device life of the prosthesis in the 75 patients in long-term follow-up are 235 and 141 days respectively. Good to fair vocal rehabilitation was achieved in 92% of the patients. Statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship of the device life with the original tumour site (P = 0.0078). Radiotherapy had a borderline (P = 0.0652) negative influence on the device life but not on prosthesis-related complications. Increasing follow-up time has a positive influence on the device life of the prosthesis (P < 0.0001).